Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/92

 72 Hijiory of Dome/lie Manners No. 47. ^n Anglo-Saxon Horfeman. at full Ipeed." Horfes were ufed chiefly by the upper clafTes of fociety in travelling. Two of a party of Saxon travellers are reprefented in our cut No. 46 (from MS. Cotton. Claudius, B. iv.). The lady, it will be obferved, rides fideways, as in modern times, and the illumi- nated manufcripts of different periods furnilli us with examples enough to fliow that fuch was always the praftice ; yet an old writer has afcribed the introduc- Jj^ £_-— vjyv vn ^Jqj^ p£ lide-faddles into this // ^'^^ country to Anne of Bohemia, the queen of Richard II., and the ftatement has been repeated by writers on coftume, who too often blindly compile from one another without examining carefully the original fources of information.* The next cut. No. 47 (taken from MS. Harl. No. 603), reprefents a horfeman with his arms^ the fpear, and the round fhield, with its bofs, which reminds us of thofe frequently found in the early Anglo-Saxon graves. The horfe furniture is tolerably well defined in thefe figures. The forms of the fpur {fpiird) and the ftirrup (called in Anglo- Saxon Jiirap and hlypa) are very peculiar. Moft of the furniture of the horfe was then, as now, of leather, and was made by the flioemaker and will be found in Mr. Planch(5's " History of British Costume." Statements of this kind made by old writers are seldom to be depended upon ; people were led by political bias or personal partiality, to ascribe the introduction of customs that were odious, to persons who were unpopular, or whom they disliked, while they ascribed everything of a contrary character to persons who were beloved. No. 48. Anglo-Saxon Horfe Fittings.
 * This erroneous statement is repeated by most ot our writers on such subjects,